Spin Cycle
by SandrinePenn
Summary: I'm sorry that my refusal to hum the Mission: Impossible theme song and wear all black has made me less than adventurous.
1. Prologue

The air smelled of sulfur and burnt cardboard, fireworks and magic; still and unbreathing, the Florida night drowned Peter and Claire as they crept unnoticed through Epcot.

"This is absurd," Claire hissed, glancing over her shoulder at nothing in particular. Peter rolled his eyes and clamped his hand over her mouth as nonchalant as if he were giving her a hug. Squealing and struggling momentarily, Claire relented and pursed her lips behind his palm, hurrying through the Italy pavilion.

"This is not absurd, it's necessary," Peter responded in a low voice. "Can't you be adventurous for a change?" He knew immediately that he'd asked the wrong question, as Claire wheeled on him and narrowed her eyebrows maliciously. "I..."

Pinning Peter to a wall, Claire straightened up to her full height and leaned in. "I have followed you across the country, broken into Disney World, and am now stalking a maniac through a theme park at midnight. I'm sorry that my refusal to hum the _Mission: Impossible _theme song and wear all black has made me less than adventurous."

"I'm..."

"Did you stop for a second to stop and think what would happen if we get caught?" Peter couldn't help but smile. Biting his bottom lip, Peter shook his head, unsurprised to find that Claire was, if possible, angrier than before. "Peter!"

"Claire, I can fly," he stated. Claire opened her mouth to protest and then shut it quickly; he had a point. "I can teleport, become invisible, throw fire, regenerate body parts; something tells me that an unarmed security guard is going to be the least of our troubles here in the Sunshine State." Claire sighed, irritated.

"You just wanted to say Sunshine State in a sentence." Claire continued through the promenade, ducking gracefully behind a pillar as two teenagers, dressed in Olde American garb and wearing nametags that read "Leah, Orlando, FL" and "Megan, Salt Lake City, UT" strolled past, laughing loudly. Keeping an eye on Peter and an eye on the girls, Claire breathed out slowly as they disappeared out of sight. Turning towards Peter, Claire began to say something when he collided with her, skipping across the pavement, and rocketing into the sky.

"What the..."

"This is so not the happiest place on Earth," Peter grumbled, setting down on the top of the Mexico temple. "Sylar's here."

"I don't believe you," Claire shot back, standing up too quickly and stepping off the edge of the structure. It took her less time to heal from the fall than it did to actually hit the ground. She was rubbing her head when Peter set down next to her, rolling his eyes. He grabbed her by the sweater and they were off again, wind rushing through Claire's hair and fluting Peter's jacket out behind him. "You're on fire," he cried into her scalp, a second after Claire noticed that her entire lower body was charring.

"What the..."

"Peek-a-boo," a voice to her immediate left sing-songed before wrenching Claire from Peter's grasp and hurling her to the ground. Screaming, her last thought was that this was definitely going to hurt.

Slamming into the ground at a hundred miles an hour, Claire blacked out; her leg snapped clean in two; her lower jaw punctured through the skin and all of her teeth rattled loose. As blood poured from her wounds, Peter and Sylar fought high above her.

"You should have taught your girlfriend how to fly," Sylar snarled, easily dodging Peter's fireball. "Your aim is terrible."

"I'm not trying to hit you," Peter retorted, anger coursing through his veins. "Claire is..."

"Dead," Sylar responded plainly, just as if he were telling the time. Peter laughed, ignoring the bile rising in his throat. "Don't believe me?"

"She... you can't kill her. She's..."

"She's special? Not anymore." Nodding downwards, Sylar began to smirk, which quickly became a laugh. "I killed the invincible cheerle..."

Sylar got halfway through the word "cheerleader" when a searing pain enveloped him. Looking around, Sylar tried to pinpoint the source of the fire, realizing too late that it wasn't coming from Peter; it _was_ Peter. Shimmering against the murky sky, Peter had wrapped his body around Sylar and began emitting radiation. Howling in agony, Sylar managed to free himself and shot off into the night.

Exhausted, Peter fell the last fifty feet to the ground, his ankle and left leg snapping and healing almost instantaneously. Taking off in a sprint, Peter reached Claire's crumpled body and immediately turned away and was sick. Her bones were protruding from all angles, her body stained in blood. Falling to his knees next to Claire, Peter grabbed her gingerly and began to shake his head.

"Claire," he said firmly. "Claire, Claire, Claire..." He began to gasp, pulling her into his arms. "No, no, no," he repeated over and over again, subconsciously aware that it was only a matter of time before Sylar was back. "Heal, Claire. Claire, please..." He pressed his fingers to her neck, her wrist, and finally the arch of her foot, desperately searching for a pulse; when he found none, Peter broke down.

Claire was dead.

"So, Peter; scared yet?" Sylar asked, a foot behind him. Placing Claire gently onto the ground, Peter stood and turned, his mind working off pure revenge. Sylar cocked an eyebrow, and smile salaciously.

"You hear it?" Peter asked, as the two men began to circle Claire's body.

"Do I hear what?" Sylar asked, just as he was supposed to. "That sound in your heart?" Peter nodded. "I know that sound well. It's..."

"Murder," Peter launched himself at Sylar, contacting with the man so hard that it broke several bones. Shooting into the sky, Sylar was unable to shake Peter off of him.

"It's useless. You're only going to insult yourself," Sylar screamed as his flesh peeled back; the combination of bone crunching speeds and radiation were doing a number on both of them.

Unspeaking, Peter plunged his hand into Sylar's chest and ripped his heart out without ever breaking the skin. Unaware that he had picked up D.L.'s power, Peter was momentarily stunned as the organ writhed in his hand before turning to sand and slipping between his fingers. Sylar's glassy eyes unfocused and his body went lax enough that Peter could shrug him. Circling back around, Peter swooped down and collected Claire's body, teleporting to New York before Sylar came to.

In a heap on the ground, Mr. Bennet gasped in breaths, attempting to steady his vision without his glasses. Looking around, he saw the bloodied grass where Claire had landed. Standing, he hobbled over to the spot and bent down, trailing his fingers through the puddle. When he righted himself, long golden hair cascaded to his shoulders and his business suit was suddenly several sizes too big.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Claire Bennet grinned smugly and disappeared with a pop.


	2. Chapter One

Sitting on the worn out couch in Nathan's home, Peter could hardly focus on his brother's voice, let alone actually comprehend what he was saying. But, then again, he wasn't actually talking to Peter.

"... is dead. I know, I'm... I know. Just please come as soon as you can." Nathan hung up the phone and sunk into the chintz armchair across from Peter. "Peter..."

Peter grunted non-commitally, unable to even attempt to engage in conversation at that moment.

Claire was dead. His Claire was gone. Even he had seen the irony; the invincible cheerleader murdered. Somehow, however, the irony had wrung hollow. Nothing seemed to matter. He couldn't be totally sure that Hiro hadn't stopped time, or at least gummed it up a little.

"Peter, please just listen to me. You don't have to say anything, just listen. You have to hide." Nathan held his hands up as soon as Peter opened his mouth to protest. "Listen."

Peter narrowed his eyebrows and chewed his cheek, attempting to quell the fury rising in his throat.

"Claude is going to... I don't know, hide you or help you hide, or something. I don't know, but they're coming. Claude and Matt and... and Claire's father."

"You're Claire's father," Peter spat back quickly. Nathan sighed, running a hand over his face.

"I know, but..."

"Where were you tonight?" Peter interjected, standing suddenly. Nathan too stood, reaching out for Peter's arms. "We needed you. She needed you," he hissed, gesturing to the closed room where Claire's body was laid out. "You're a shitty father and an even worse brother."

"Peter, please calm down," Nathan pleaded, panicked but still annoyed as always, "You're not thinking str..."

"Straight? I'm not thinking straight? Nathan, I..."

"Peter," Nathan said, his voice dry. Peter turned over his shoulder to the point in space where Nathan's eyes had become fixed. Standing in the doorway was the Haitian and Hiro; in the Haitian's arms was Claire's body.

"Put her down," Peter growled, taking a quick step towards them. The Haitian simply shook his head.

"No. She is no longer yours," he said, his voice thick and warm, eerie against the morose, still air in the study. Nathan stepped up next to Peter.

"Well she's sure as hell not yours."

"Yes, she is," a female voice stated authoritatively. Angela Petrelli stepped into the light, shadowed previously in the dimness of the room Claire had been removed from. "Tu saprobe c'est mort." A second later, Hiro, the Haitian, and Claire were gone.

"No!" Peter cried, lunging forward, slamming into nothing and crashing to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, confused and bleeding, pounding on the air with his fist. "No, no, Claire!"

"Sweetheart, she's gone," Angela said calmly, placing her hand on his forearm. Peter wheeled on her, grabbing her and throwing her against the wall. Angela stopped and hovered an inch above the carpet before setting her feet down and crossing her arms. "Oh, Peter..."

Staring between his brother and mother, Peter felt his head swim before passing out onto the floor. Nathan caught him easily and set him down.

"He's better like this," Nathan offered, sighing. "Have we found Candace?" Angela shook her head, sitting in the same armchair that Nathan had occupied moments earlier.

"Last we knew, she was impersonating Bennet. According to Dr. Suresh, with the damage she's incurred recently, she can no longer revert to her actual form. She's stuck as the persona she's channeling until she finds another aura."

"That would explain how Mr. Bennet has managed to be in about seventeen places at once. And Gietelman?"

"We have her with Bennet, Claude, and Officer Parkman in holding somewhere out West." Nathan nodded, fixing his gaze above his mother's head. "Darling, I'm sorry you had to see Laurent take Claire." Nathan shrugged.

"I knew it was coming. I'd be more concerned about Peter."

"I'm always more concerned about Peter. You know that." Nathan smiled small, his eyes flicking to his brother's prostrate form. "You will need to wait for Hiro to return before leaving to meet the others. I will tend to Peter."

Nathan stood and crossed the room, kissing his mother's cheek tenderly. "I'm going to check on Heidi and the boys. Please have Hiro meet me in the garden when he arrives."

"Certainly. And Nathan?" Nathan stopped. "You do know why we had to hide Claire, don't you?" Nathan smiled again. His mother was playing with him, trying to get him to admit the truth. To admit that he knew the truth.

"Of course. It would rather confuse Peter if Candace arrives as Claire while her dead body is in the other room." Angela raised her eyebrows.

"Precisely. I'll tell Hiro where you are." With a nod, Nathan slipped from the room silently, leaving Angela alone with Peter. No sooner had the door shut did Hiro appear.

"Nathan?" he asked, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

"He's in the gardens, dear," Angela said, her voice tired. Hiro nodded and smiled, before leaving. Sinking to her knees, Angela ran her hand over Peter's laxened brow.

"You really are better like this."


	3. Chapter Two

"I'm tired of this," Claude said for the millionth time in the last hour.

"We know," Hana and Matt said in unison, rolling their eyes. Matt dealt Hana another hand and shuffled the extra cards back into the deck.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" he asked Bennet, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. Bennet, as had been his response every time Claude had asked, shrugged and shook his head.

"Angela said that we'd wait here until we heard from Nathan."

"And you actually listened to her? Some fine rogue you are," Claude snorted.

"I'd love to see you try and get past that field that Hiro put around this place," Bennet said, his features darkening. "Now that he knows how to freeze time in a centralized area only, we're stuck here till he comes back and undoes it."

"Dammit," Hana swore, throwing her hand down. "You cheat; I can't play with you." Matt's mouth dropped incredulously.

"Not on purpose! I can't turn it on and off, but maybe if you didn't concentrate so hard on 'Ace of Clubs,' I wouldn't know what you had!"

"Your wife's looking at porn right now," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. Matt groaned.

"Was that your version of a 'na-na-boo-boo'?"

"Will you two shut up?" Bennet sighed, his voice weary.

"Let's play different game," Claude suggested suddenly. Hana turned to him with raised eyebrows. "Hide and seek. Not it!"

"We've gone crazy," Matt said to himself, shaking his head as Hana pointed out the obvious problems with hide and seek with the invisible man. "Completely out of our minds."

"We've only been here for six hours," Bennet countered, before pursing his lips. "I see your point."

Matt opened his mouth say something just as Hiro and Nathan teleported into the empty space in the middle of the room.

"Alright, grab a partner and let's go." Staring at Nathan, unblinking, they didn't move. "Seriously, let's go. We don't have much time."

"Where?" Bennet asked plainly. Nathan began to answer and promptly thought otherwise; to be perfectly honest, he'd been expecting more detailed questions.

"New York," Hiro answered for him. "We must go, Bad Man." Bennet winced; he was so tired of that nickname. Grabbing Claude by the scruff, Bennet drug him over to Hiro and rested his hand on the younger man's shoulder. Hana and Matt followed suit. "Hello Hana," Hiro gushed, blushing. Hana gave him a willowy smile before clasping his hand and closing her eyes.

A second later, the six of them appeared in Nathan's living room where Angela and Peter were waiting.

"Where's Claire?" Bennet asked immediately, stepping away from the group and up to Peter. Peter looked at his mother and then to his brother, as if searching for his voice in them. "Where is she?"

"Her body has been moved for security reasons," Angela said smoothly, keeping her eyes on Peter. An hour earlier, she had explained everything to Peter. He had not taken it well, as suspected. "Please, sit, all of you. We have much to discuss."

* * *

"Please, humor me and just listen until I finish," Angela began. The others had been seated and accommodated with drinks and clean clothing. In silence, the tension in the room was palpable.

"Six months ago, Candace Shapiro went rogue. She separated with Primatech, Thompson, and even myself. No one has been able to keep a certain track on her since. All we know for certain is that she joined Sylar sometime around November, about a week after Peter was supposed to detonate." Angela's choice of wording was both caring and careful. "In December, she was nearly killed by Dr. Suresh, though he did not succeed in his act. Because of the brain injuries she sustained during her impersonation of Dr. Suresh, she can no longer return to her personal form."

"I don't understand," Hana interrupted suddenly. "What does Mohinder have to do with this?"

"Candace as Mohinder was shot in the back of the head twice by Mohinder himself, realizing that he was being tailed. He took a great risk, as he did not know his connection to Candace's form. He could have easily killed himself by killing her," Nathan said from behind his closed fist.

"The bullet lodged just beneath her cerebral cortex, damaging her motor skills indeterminately and thus leading her to rely heavily on Sylar. After he nursed her back to health, an act of compassion that no one has yet been able to explain, he began to train her, much in the way that Claude has trained Peter."

"Why not just steal her ability?" Matt asked.

"We don't know. He has some greater plan," Peter offered, his voice cracking and rusty.

"A month ago, Candace began impersonating you," Angela said, turning to face Bennet. "As I'm sure you're aware, that is how she got to your wife and son. I never had the chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear of their deaths." Bennet nodded, crossing his arms.

"Why the bloody hell were we just forced into a shed for six hours together?" Claude erupted. Angela cocked her head to the side.

"They told me you were bright." Claude narrowed his eyes maliciously as Angela continued. "Do you really want Candace to be invisible? To read minds? To have control over the world's computers?"

"Do we know for certain that by impersonating a hero she gains their powers? That seems illogical," Bennet stated.

"We didn't know. Until now, she's only taken the form of mortals. Yourself, your wife, Dr. Suresh, Simone Deveaux."

"You said until now. What changed?" Matt asked, leaning forward onto his knees.

"Peter and Claire fought Sylar yesterday evening while at Epcot. They fought Sylar, with all his powers, before being able to escape. Peter escaped."

"What does..."

"Sylar killed Isaac Mendez last night, at the same time that Peter and Claire were embroiled in a battle with him. He has many powers, but being in two places at once is not one of them. We do not believe that Candace would impersonate Sylar to the point of digesting powers in his fashion, leaving the only answer being that Peter and Claire fought Candace last night."

"I took his heart," Peter said slowly. "When we were fighting, I ripped his heart out and he fell to the ground. He didn't heal. Sylar would have healed."

"So Candace is dead?" Hana asked. Angela shook her head.

"Unfortunately not. Once stripped of Sylar's lifeblood, she would have been forced to find another Source. She, we believe, would have then reverted to the last form she held, Bennet's, until finding another persona. We fear that she may have found a hold in Claire."

"That's why we had to move her body," Nathan said, casting his eyes upon Bennet. "If Candace finds Claire, she will be able to take her form permanently, should she choose. We already know for a fact that she is impersonating Claire."

Around the room, the reactions were similar: disgust and surprise, fear and loathing.

"She's my little girl?" Bennet roared, his face flushing.

"Claire is dead," Claude said, grabbing Bennet's wrist. "She's dead, Rand." Bennet stared at Claude for a long moment, searching out any errant emotion he could, before nodding and sitting down.

"So you do have a name Mr. Bennet," Angela smiled. "And here I thought you were a Bond figure."

"Leave him be," Claude hissed, his eyes dark.

"There is still one thing left unexplained," the Haitian said, appearing from seemingly no where. "How did Claire die?"

"Laurent raises a point that we have not yet figured; what happened to Claire's ability?" Angela placed her hand on Peter's shoulder and sighed. "If there is some way that your abilities are being threatened, we need to figure out how, who, and why."

"You said that Isaac is dead?" Hana asked, as if just hearing it. "So Sylar can... can see the future?"

"Presumably. This is obviously going to make tracking and catching him much more difficult."

"Isaac was good man," Hiro said sadly, looking to the floor. A moment spent in silence was interrupted by Laurent.

"We must go," he said. "We've spent enough time in the same spot." Angela nodded, stepping away from Peter.

"You will group off; Matt, Claude, and Hiro; Peter, Nathan, and Hana; Laurent and Bennet will remain with me. This way, there is an escape route for each other, no matter what. Stay hidden until you hear otherwise. All of you," Angela said, glancing at Claude imperceptibly.

"What then? After we hear from you?" Matt asked, his head pounding. Angela considered him for a long moment.

"You'll do as I say."

In threes, they disappeared from the room, leaving Laurent, Bennet, and Angela alone. A long moment passed before Bennet found his voice again.

"What are we waiting for?" he asked. Angela turned to him from her spot in front of the picture window.

"A sign," she sighed, turning back to the dusty sky. "There's an eclipse tonight, I hear."

Bennet just nodded.


End file.
